Maple Madness at Eden Hall
Springtime is here, bringing with it rare sunny days in Pittsburgh and warmer temperatures which means the maple syrup sap is flowing here in Southwest PA. Chatham’s Eden Hall campus is taking full advantage of the season making their own maple syrup. We spoke with Tony Miga, former Eden Hall Farm Manager as of 2021, on what the process looks like and the benefits behind the beloved breakfast staple.
How do you make maple syrup?
During late Winter/early Spring we “tap” maple trees which means that we drill small holes and insert a hollow tube into about 70-80 trees around campus. When the conditions are right this time of year, meaning it’s below freezing at night and warm the following day, the sap is flowing in the maples and it will flow out of the tapped trees through tubing in each tree to buckets. It’s essentially sweet water, 98% water, and 2% sugar at this point so we have to boil it down and evaporate it until it is officially syrup at 68% sugar using our wood-fired cast evaporator. From there it’s bottled and sold to the dining hall or we will have pop-up sales at Eden Hall selling to the local community, students, staff, and faculty. As we continue to expand our production and improve our methods, my goal is that we’ll eventually be able to have a stock of it available for sale at the bookstore on the Shadyside campus.
Who all is involved in this year’s process?
Like with everything on the farm, it is done through the student farm crew of 12-15 students who are the primary workforce behind the process. In addition to that, this year we have an undergraduate class that is learning about and researching things connected to the maple. So, we have an Agroecology class that is sort of piggybacking on what we’re doing and using it as a basis for some course projects.
Why do you feel it’s so important to uphold traditions like this?
To me, there are so many things about it that are appealing and so many important reasons to be continuing this work. One thing that I always talk to students about is the strong historical connection with the Indigenous peoples that lived in this area who really started using this resource and showed the European settlers that this was something worth doing. Up until the mid-18th century, maple sugar was the primary sweetener for everyone in North America. Sugar and honeybees aren’t native to us here. It’s one of the only things you can do locally and regionally to produce a sweet product. There’s also some value in the idea that the only healthy, sustainable way to do this is to tap trees that are 12 inches in diameter or larger which means you need maples that are 50+ years old. So, I think a really neat part of this is that we’re benefiting from something that people started 50 or 60 years ago and it’s only now that we’re able to reap those benefits. I think there’s just some significance in thinking longer-term about what we’re doing today and how that affects generations down the road.
How does producing our own foods help us build a more sustainable future?
It gives us a reason to be outside, to pay more attention to the trees in our area, to look more closely at what’s going on in the woods, another reason to sort of just notice things that you might not otherwise pay attention to. I think doing something like this that takes time and is labor-intensive, really helps you get to know an area. It’s almost like you develop a relationship with the trees and the space.
Any advice for someone looking to do this on a small scale?
You can do it! It’s worth trying and experimenting with. If you have a maple tree or two, you can do it, you just have to find ways to adapt it to your situation or setting. The biggest challenge for a home-scale production is getting enough sap on hand to be able to boil it effectively without burning the syrup before it spoils. One thing that really appeals to me about maple is that there is a lot of benefit in collaboration. You can make this a communal effort. Reach out to your neighbors and those on your street who also have a maple tree. If each one of you has a maple tree, now every time there’s a sap run, you can all tap the trees and have enough sap to boil right away.
You can keep up with all the great things going on Eden Hall by following the farm team on Instagram or checking out the Eden Hall Campus website. Interested in getting involved on the farm? Email Tony Miga for more information!